Notorious
by mynameaintjonas
Summary: What if the BAU team would have had to catch real notorious serial killers such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy or Ed Gein?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Neither the characters of the show, nor actual people such as Ted Bundy or Julie Cunningham belong to me.

Tavern on the Gore was the most popular pub of the small Ski Resort City of Vail, Colorado. Most people that visited the tavern were tourists that came from far away who allowed themselves a weekend of relaxation and pleasure in the snowy mountains of Colorado. Julie Cunningham however was not one of them. She had lived her whole life in Vail and worked as a ski instructor at a local sporting goods store. Although she loved the sport with a passion, she often got annoyed by the many tourists that came to the city and filled her favorite pub. Especially tonight.

She should have known better though, after all it had happen way to many times. Rick Foley seemed like a great man, perfect husband material, the kind of guy you would love to introduce to your parents and she had fallen head over heals for him. He was tall, with a athletic build and a smile to die for and he told her he wanted to settle down, with her of all people. Looking back, Julie couldn't believe how naive she had been, but she wanted to trust Rick and thus payed a very expensive vacation to Sun Valley, Idaho for the two of them. On the last day he told her that he wasn't so certain about a real relationship after all. Julie couldn't tell if this breakup was more or less hurtful than the times the man she picked up told her, they'd call her the next day without the intention of ever doing it. Probably more. The other times she often knew it was just a lie, because she had heard these kind of excuses often enough to really see when people were being honest or not, in fact Julie considered herself to be quite a expert when it came to human nature due to her many failed relationships. And yet, she completely fell for Rick Foley and actually believed they had a long and happy future ahead of them. After finishing crying and yelling, Julie called her mother to let her anger out and inform her she'd be coming back home, but when her mother just teased her by saying 'I told you so' and blaming her for all her troubles, Julie decided she'd rather go to her favorite bar and drown her miserable self in alcohol for the rest of the night.

When Julie arrived at the tavern some people, who had known her from her childhood, greeted her with open arms, but when some asked why she was already back from Sun Valley and where Rick was, she went straight to an empty seat at the bar. The air smelled terribly because of the many people, the smoke from the cigarettes and the puke from the corners of the pub, but Julie couldn't care less about all that. She was just so sick of it. Of all the times she had cried because she was alone yet again, and the lies she had endured all her life and most of all, the men who had caused all her sorrow. Maybe she should just end it once and for all with men in her life. Who knew, maybe women were more her style anyway; they could relate to her and she could finally have someone she could talk to without any fears and she could have pleasure with them as well. Or maybe she should just adopt a cat. Yeah, a sweet little cat, she could name Daniel. No, not Daniel, Danielle. There, that's better.

Julie was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice as a young man slowly came up to her. Through the loud music she barley heard him talking to her. Only when he tapped her on the should, Julie turned towards the stranger. "Excuse me, what?"

The brown haired man smiled affably. "I asked if you might be able to help me with a little problem of mine."

Julie noticed how gentle his voice sounded as he talked. His somewhat wavy hair was neatly combed, he had thick eyebrows and a few beard stubble on his chin. Although Julie was barley 5'5, the handsome man in front of her was only slightly taller than her. His sharp features immediately attracted Julie him, but she caught herself quickly after reminding herself of her good resolutions.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can help you right now." Julie responded and turned back to the glass of whiskey in her hands.

The man seemed a bit surprised that she rejected him, but he wasn't about to give up just yet. It had been to long since the last time. He chuckled lightly as he tried once more. "Oh? Are you sure? I'd really need help carrying these skis to my car. I stupidly injured myself while trying to learn how to ski."

Julie turned back to the handsome man next to her. Only now the saw the crutches beneath his arms and the skis he had leaned on the counter during their conversation. She wasn't really in the mood for something like this, she just wanted to be alone right now, but it seemed a bit unfair to her to let her anger out on this poor guy.

"Alright," Julie sighed as she got up from the stool and put some dollar bills on the bar to pay for her drinks, "I just hope you didn't park that far away."

Julie picked up the skis and went ahead of him towards the exit, as the man smiled slyly behind her back. "Don't worry, this won't take long. You have very nice hair by the way."

Julie flushed slightly and combed unconsciously through her parted brown hair. It was already dark outside when Julie and the man exited the tavern and stomped through the snow. Julie walked a bit slower than usual, so that he could keep up with her and lead the way, after all he walked on crutches, even though he seemed to cope with it rather well. Although Julie told herself not to, she couldn't resist but be interested in the guy. He seemed like a nice guy, with an attractive face nonetheless.

"My car's right over there." the man said as he pointed to a small VW Beetle with one of his crutches. "I'll just open the back real quick."

While he opened the trunk, Julie looked back towards the tavern as she shivered because of the cold Colorado weather. "What's your name anyway?"

"My name," the man repeated, "is Ted." With that he hit the unsuspecting Julie in the back of her head with the tire iron he had produced from the Beetle's trunk.

As Julie was whimpering in pain. Her face was laying in the snow-covered ground while she thought to herself that she really should have known better.

"Pack your snowsuits, people, we're going to Colorado!" Penelope Garcia exclaimed excitingly as she walked into the conference room of the BAU with some manila folders tucked under her arm and a remote control in her other hand. Her blonde, curled hair was held in place by a pink hairband and many, many canes of hair spray. As usual she was dressed in a very colorful outfit, which stood in a heavy contrast to how her co-workers were dressed, but she couldn't care less about it, as she stood in front of the conference table and pushed a button on her remote.

A few pictures of a pretty woman showed up on the big screen in the room. Her dead body was dumped at a solitary forest area. Blood covered the entire back of her head and she lay stark naked with some visual bruises on her entire body. Jennifer Jareau looked away disgusted by the sight in front of her, whereas team chef Aaron Hotchner faced the pictured with out showing any kind of emotion.

"Julie Cunningham, 23-years-old, a Colorado native and would you believe it a ski instructor was found dead near her home town of Vail. She was last seen in a local Tavern the night of her death, but apparently no one notice when she went away and the next day she was found by an elderly couple during their stroll through the woods. The coroner confirmed that she was raped." Garcia explained their latest case. She couldn't even look at the pictures she was showing her team, so she just focused on her team members. She'd still have to look at some cute pictures of panda afterwards.

David Rossi looked up from the folder he was reading while stroking his goatee. "Before or after she was killed?"

"After." Garcia replied while she closed her eyes and acted as if she tried to suppress the urge to vomit.

"A necrophilia? The most common reasons for this kind of sexual preference is the fear of rejection. They chose partners that can under no circumstance resist them. Or the unsub is just trying to show his dominance over his victim." the youngest of the group, Dr. Spencer Reid, concluded.

Derek Morgan, who had been quiet so far, suddenly spoke up. " This certainly isn't nice, but why are we immediately called for?"

"The reason, my bald-headed beauty, why Colorado is asking for our help is that Julie is the fifth woman so far that, not only has been killed in this manner, but all the other women have a striking similarity with her." Garcia stated and again pushed a button on the remote she was holding. Four other pictures of women showed up on the screen all lined in a row. "Caryn Campbell, Denise Lynn Oliverson, Melanie Cooley, and Shelly Robertson"

Rossi viewed the displayed pictures a short time, before he spotted the similarity. "They all have long, brown hair..."

"That is parted in the middle." Reid completed, but didn't notice the look Rossi was shooting towards him for interrupting his observation.

Emily Prentiss tried to hid her smile at Rossi's look by ducking her head and squeezing her lips together. Although she was sometimes quite awkward when it come to interaction with people herself, she couldn't believe how oblivious Spencer could be at times. She straighten her jet black hair, she had combed into a ponytail, as she tried to concentrate on the pictures in front of her.

"The unsub was shown real anger towards his victims by adding all these bruises. This is a obvious sign. It's possible someone with the same looks caused our guy to lose control." suggested Morgan who had had his arms firmly crossed against his chest. For him it was an easy conclusion. All victims had similar appearances; that couldn't be a coincident. In fact it reminded Morgan of the case of John Myers, an almost deaf serial killer the BAU had caught, whose female victims all spotted similarities with his mother.

However, no matter how convinced Morgan of this, it didn't help identify the man who was behind this.

"I'd say we'll fly to Colorado and get a clear picture ourselves. Reid, JJ you go talk to Cunningham's family; Dave, Morgan you'll go to the last place she was seen and see what you can figure out and Prentiss and I will go to the morgue to examine the bodies." Hotch declared as he got up from his seat with one of the files tucked under his arm.


	2. Chapter 2

It never gets easier.

Whenever the team had a new case, JJ usually was responsible for dealing with the media or consulting the victim's families, but no matter how many times she sat down with one of the family members of the victims to ask them questions, she always saw the pain in their eyes which hunted her for the rest of the day. Or the week. She still remembered the first time she had to talk to a man whose wife had been brutally killed by a killer in Maryland. She had been so nervous and scared that she would make some kind of mistake when it came to handling the families, that she almost completely ignored what the man was telling her. After that she was so embarrassed of herself, that she never wanted to talk to one of the family members again, but when she noticed that not one of the policemen or agents thought it important enough to comfort the families at their next case, she made it her task. Since then she had been the one who had to calm them down when they cried and yelled and she had to bear the stories, that made her sick to her stomach when she thought about what happened to these innocent souls. And although it effected her more than she showed, she didn't mind, knowing that these people could find some relief by talking to her.

"Hey, Spence," JJ stopped her partner who walked in front of her towards the driveway of the Cunningham's house. Spencer turned back to JJ and raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner. "Leave the talking to me, alright?" The blonde agent put her hand on Spencer's shoulder while she spoke, but withdrew it immediately when she felt the itchy wool of Spencer's cardigan.

It didn't take long for a woman in her late 50s with gray hair to open the door. She seemed rather calm and prepared for their arrival, but both JJ and Spencer clearly saw that she had been crying earlier this day. "Are you more of those police officers?"

"Actually we're from the BAU. It's a sub-organization of the FBI and we're here to ask some questions about Julie and her... murder." Spencer answered. The woman – Mrs. Cunningham - opened the door and signaled for JJ and Spencer to come in. She led them to the small living room and pointed to a brown leather couch at the back of the room. As JJ settled on the couch she took a moment to look around. The living room was well lit because of the big window, which covered almost the whole wall to the left. Looking through the window, JJ saw a garden full of children toys, a red slide and a tree house in one of the big oak trees. She easily imagined how a younger Julie would climb up to the tree house and play there with her friends. Apart from the rather simple furniture there hung many pictures of the small Cunningham family on the walls and on the shelves. All showing smiling faces, but how should it be any different? Who would display a picture of their own children crying in the living room or even make a photo of that?

"Mrs. Cunningham, I know this isn't easy, but we have to ask these questions. We've been informed that the night Julie was murdered she had a phone conversation with you. What did you talk about?" JJ started their interview with a soft voice as if to avoid scaring Julie's mother.

Mrs. Cunningham closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she began to speak. " Well, she just came back from a short vacation from Sun Valley, Idaho. She was there with some guy, but apparently they parted ways. While she was driving back home she called me and she really seemed upset. I told her to come right here, but she denied and wanted to go to Tavern on the Gore. That's a pub on 4215 East Street- or no it's on 421- I'm sorry I don't know exactly."

The older woman looked down as if she was ashamed that she couldn't remember the street and could help the agents trying to find her daughter's killer. She sobbed quietly, but loud enough for JJ to hear, who shifted from the couch to sit right next to Julie's mother and put her hand on her knee to calm her down.

"It's fine, Mrs. Cunningham. Did Julie say if she wanted to meet someone there?"

Mrs. Cunningham thought about JJ's question, but shock her head no. " Julie said, she wanted to be alone for the rest of the day. You know, this isn't the first time something like this happened. My daughter isn't the most luckiest when it comes to men, but she sounded really distraught, almost depressed. I was so worried about her and wanted her to come home, but once she made a decision she won't change her mind, but she's also very caring."

"Is it possible that she went with a stranger she met at the pub?" JJ inquired.

"It's possible. Julie is- was rather spontaneous, even a little naive when it came to men. I thought this last breakup though wold have made her realized..." Mrs Cunningham began to sob again, as she waved her hand in font of her face to signal that she would need a break.

Smiling sympathetically, JJ got up from the couch. "It's fine, Mrs. Cunningham, we're finished anyway. I'm sorry about your loss."

"Just find him," the elder woman said while sniffling, "find the man who did this to my baby girl."

"We will." Spencer assured her.

"Have you ever been skiing?" Derek Morgan asked nonchalant as he and his partner David Rossi entered a bar in the small town of Vail, Colorado. Although it was in the middle of the day, the pub was filled to overflowing mostly because of the many tourists. Despite all he heat in the stuffy pub some people were still wearing their thick snowsuits and balaclavas. The walls were decorated with pictures of the snowy Colorado mountains and some old skis which were crossed to form an 'X'.

David Rossi tried to push his way through some of the already drunken customers, while silently praying that his tailored, Italian suit would still smell somewhat normal once they left the bar. "When I was younger, my family dragged me along to a vacation in Switzerland. I don't want to tell that much, just that it didn't end that well."

Morgan chuckled lightly. He stopped at the counter of the pub when he spotted one barkeeper mixing another drink. The barkeeper's black hair was covered in sweat either from the heat in the room or the stress of serving so many people.

"Excuse me, sir," Morgan tried to get the keeper's attention as he leaned against the counter, "We'd like t-"

"Get in the line or something, there are other customers here and I'm a bit busy right now, alright." the middle aged bartender rudely interrupted and accidentally spilled some of the drinks he had just mixed on Derek's black t-shirt.

A bit annoyed, Derek produced his FBI badge from his pocket and shoved it the barkeeper's face while rubbing the wet spot on his shirt. The man behind the counter still poured alcohol, when he finally looked up and saw Derek's badge in front of him. "What? Oh, Oh my! I'm sorry 'bout that, I'll get you a towel. It was an accident, you know that, right?"

Derek smirked a bit at the bartender's reaction. It always amazed him how much authority you could get such because of a piece of metal. "We're here to ask some questions about a murder that occurred around here some days ago. Were you on shift these last couple of days?"

"A murder? You're talking about that Cunningham girl? Yeah, no, I wasn't here last night. Wait, I'll go get Tony. And a towel."

A few minutes passed by when a tall, fair-haired man in his early twenties wearing a black vest came out of the back room of the tavern. He looked a bit confused as he approached the two FBI agents. "John said you were asking for me? And I should bring a towel? Oh, I guess that's for you"

Derek thankfully accepted the towel Tony offered him and began drying his shirt. Rossi stepped over and showed Tony his badge. "You were here on shift some nights ago?"

The younger bartender nodded his head in confirmation.

"Have you seen this girl, Julie Cunningham, here at that time?" Rossi showed Tony a picture of Julie, even though he assumed Tony already knew who Julie was.

"Yeah, she came here late that night and seemed pretty down. Ordered some drinks and wanted to be alone." Tony answered honestly, but Rossi sensed he was not saying something that bothered him.

Rossi tilted his head slightly. "Did you notice when she left that night?"

Tony was silent for a moment before he nodded again. He look to the right to avoid eye contact with Rossi while he spoke. "She left with some guy."

Derek noticed his partners skepticism towards the young barkeeper after he dried his shirt the best he could. "Some guy? Can you describe him?"

"If I'm being honest," Tony began as he took a deep breath, "I've seen this guy here quite some time. He had crutches with him and came to Julie. They spoke a bit and then they went away together. But this wasn't the fist time he was here. Some days ago he first came in here and talked to some girls. He always wore either crutches or some kind of arm bracelet, but which surprised me was that sometimes he came back here without the crutches and walked perfectly normal. I should have known something was up with this guy, but I just thought he was trying to pick up some girls. And now this happened."

Tony looked down at his feet in shame and shook his head a bit. Derek saw how much it pained Tony and how he though he was partly responsible for what happened. "Listen, Tony, you can help now. Can you describe that guy?"

"Well, he had brown hair, I think. A bit curled or wavy. Not that tall, maybe a bit smaller that you," Tony stopped his description and pointed towards Rossi, "but I can't tell you much about his face, though."

"Alright, thanks." Rossi said and dismissed Tony who quickly went back to the back room of the pub.

Derek turned around to face Rossi as they slowly made their way out of the tavern. "If our man tried to convince women to come with him under the pretext of being injured it would fit to our profile of a necrophilia. It is much more unlikely someone would turn down somebody who is injured and dependent on the help of others. They wouldn't reject him."

"Maybe that wouldn't even have been necessary. JJ told me before that Julie's mother said, that she was apparently a bit too gullible concerning men." Rossi added.

"You'd say we can publish our profile?" Derek asked once they exited the pub and made their way to the black Chevrolet in the parking lot.

"I'd say we see what Aaron and Prentiss found out so far."

Emily Prentiss hated morgues. Cold atmosphere, white walls and of course many dead bodies. Although she always tried to somehow hide her true feelings and thoughts from others, she was convinced that her team chef Aaron Hotchner sensed her uneasiness. It was almost a bit ironic. The two must stoic members of the team together at a cold and lifeless morgue and both sat silently next to each other desperately waiting for the coroner to show up and lead them to the body.

Unfortunately, it took quite some time for Dr. Kramer to appear, which forced Emily and Hotch to spent the time in an awkward silence. When the elderly doctor finally showed up he could have sworn he heard Emily quietly sighed in relief. He led them to room 213 where the dead body of Julie Cunningham was stored and signaled the nurses to bring the body to them.

"Poor girl, she probably didn't even saw it coming." Dr. Kramer began as he lifted the blanket to reveal Julie's body, "She was hit in the back of the head with a blunt object, then stabbed in the chest a few time with a knife and raped. After she was dead. What is rather strange though, are these bruises on her body. You see these on the sides here? Those are from bumps and the like, but these on her chest and butt-"

"Those are bit marks." Emily interrupted and pointed towards one of the ugly red bruises with her gloved hand.

"Exactly. Apparently the killer bit her as well after he already killer her."

Emily turned towards Hotchner who had been quiet so far. "Could this mean he wanted to show his dominance over her?"

"Possible. Maybe it just errec-" Hotch couldn't finish his sentence as his mobile rang in his pocket.

"Excuse me."

Hotch left Emily and Dr. Kramer for a moment to answer his phone. He closed the door behind him just in time to hear Dr. Kramer explain that the killer also tried to strangle her, despite her already being dead.

"Hotchner?" he answered his phone.

"Aaron?" Rossi returned on the other side of the line, "We've got some news. A women reported at the local police station that a man tried to kidnap her. Her description vaguely fitted which what a bartender at the tavern, Julie Cunningham was last seen, told us. She is currently at the police station."

Hotch left the excitement rise in him. A possible new witness was exactly what they needed.

"Do you go and interview her or should we come there?"

"We're finished here, I'd say we all go to the police station and publish our profile afterward."


	3. Chapter 3

(An Update within half a year. I'm sorry about the abstinence but my a levels keep me rather busy these days. Nonetheless I really want to continue this story, so I'll try to update more frequently. However, I also have a small request for everyone who takes the time to read this story. One of the reasons I even started posting this was to improve my English, since I'm actually from Germany and thus English is not my first language. So if you spot any grammar mistakes or you come across a passage where you think one would say that differently in English, don't hesitate to tell me! I appreciate every advise you have for me!)

"Is this the woman?" Hotch asked once he and Emily arrived at the police station of Vail, Colorado. Together with the rest of the BAU Team he stood in front of a glass wall separating the FBI Agents from one of their murder's possible surviving targets.

The brunette woman behind the glass window sat uncomfortably in a worn-out chair in one of the interrogations room of the police station. She held her arms crossed in front of her stomach as if she was sick and had a stomachache while staring blankly on the iron grey table in front of her.

"Yes. Her name's Carol DaRonch, 18 years-old. She reported to the local police officers that a man in a sheriff's uniform approached her and told her to follow him to the station, saying that her car has been towed away. She condescended at first but when she noticed some utensils in the back of his car she got suspicious and fled."

JJ stepped forward to stand before her colleagues. She put her hand defensively in front of her body.

"Should we really ask her so soon? I mean she just barley escaped and now we're forcing her to relive the moment again without a break? Isn't that a bit har-"

"Look at her." Emily suddenly spoke up, "She matches the other girls almost exactly. We don't know if we dealing with a serial killer here but we don't have much time to waste."

JJ still didn't look fully convinced. She debated with herself if she should argue further, but kept her mouth shut. The blonde agent instead focused on the woman in the interrogation room, eying her with a pitiful look in her eyes.

Hotch watched JJ silently, waiting for another reaction but when none followed he reached for the doorknob and motioned for Spencer to come with him. The observant team chief took a brief look around and scanned the room, even though there wasn't much that peeked Hotch's interest. Most of the interrogation room he had seen looked just the same. Grey colored walls, intense blinding lights that shone down directly from the ceiling and an all around intimidating atmosphere. At least for the respondent.

The brunette woman sitting in a uncomfortable metal chair in the middle of the room either didn't notice Hotch and Spencer entering the room or just didn't care enough to shift her gaze towards the two men.

"Miss DaRonch?" Hotch started out more harshly than he intended to.

The young woman hesitantly looked up form her arms. Her dark, brown eyes were surrounded by big, red puffs that clearly indicated that she had been crying earlier. Even her cheeks looked somewhat swollen as if someone had hit or just violently grabbed her by it. Messy and seemingly unkempt brown hair hang loose around her petite face. Hotch could easily imagine that she looked like a beautiful young student under normal conditions, despite her red, puffy eyes, messy hair and distraught expression. One thing however was clearly visible for the experienced team chief and he noticed it instantly. Her brown hair, as messy as it was, was still slightly parted in the middle at the top of her head.

Carol's voice sounded equally stressed. She sobbed slightly as she cracked out a quiet "Yes?"

"This is Doctor Reid," Hotch answered more softly this time remembering JJ's previous concerns while pointing towards the youngest team member, "and I'm special Agent Aaron Hotchner. We'd like to ask you some questions about your incident."

While Hotch and Spencer seated themselves opposite of the petite youth, Carol took the time to take a deep breath. "W-what do you want to know?" she asked with a shaky voice.

Spencer looked over to his supervisor as if he was asking for permission, which he was granted by a short nod from Hotch.

"Miss DaRonch, could you please describe exactly what happened what caused you to report the incident here at the police station?" Spencer inquired while trying to make eye-contact with Carol. It was one of the first things he learned when he started his career. Always making eye-contact, whether you're trying to grill a suspect or trying to find out if a potential witness is telling the truth. Every movement can betray one's actual words, but no movement is as revealing as a simple, treacherous look from the eyes. Carol, however, made it fairly difficult to make eye-contact, seeing as she was just focusing on her clasped hands that lay trembling in her lap. She didn't even looked up while answering.

"I was at the mall. Shopping for- uhh that's not important. A man wearing a policeman's uniform approached me and told me that someone attempted to break into my car and he wanted me to accompany him to the police station to file a report. And I..." Carol gave a noise that sounded like the mixture of her sobs and a snort, "I was stupid enough to believe him. We drove a while until I finally noticed that we weren't even on the road that lead to the police station. I knew because I work as a telephone operator and the firm is only a few miles from the station away. After I asked him about that he... he grabbed my by the cheeks and tried to handcuff me. I tried to fight back and during the struggle and he accidentally fastened the handcuffs to the same wrist, he was still driving after all. I used my chance and jumped out of the car as soon as I could and just ran away. As fast as I could."

Carol still sobbed every now and then in between her words which made it hard to understand her sometimes, but Spencer managed to get what she was trying to get across. He could clearly see why JJ was so concerned about the young adult earlier. Spencer pressed his lips together tightly.

"We're sorry if this is hard for you, Miss DaRonch." the young agent said trying to relate to Carol, but he had to admit it was still rather challenging for him even after quite some years within the BAU.

"It- it's okay." she answered dejectedly as her voice cracked again. Carol heaved her head up high to prevent some slowly forming tears from running down her face. Under normal conditions she might had added that it was okay to call her by her first name instead of the formal 'Miss DaRonch' but at the moment her mind was occupied with different, much more horrendous thoughts.

Spencer appeared to be taken aback for a moment as if he didn't know what to do or say. A situation like this was nothing new to any of the team member per se, but for Spencer it didn't make it any easier to deal with. Hotch, who of course noticed his younger colleague reaction, stepped in to prevent a breakdown from Carol. And from Spencer.

"Can you describe the man? Did he mention his name?"

Carol took another deep breath to make sure she could manage what lay ahead of her. "'Officer Roseland'. That's what he said his name was. And he, well," she stopped for a moment to remember her encounter with the potential serial killer and what he looked like, "he was rather handsome. Brown, somewhat curly hair, average height. His voice was somehow, well, it was...I'm sorry. I can't or maybe I just don't want to remember. I'm sorry."

Hotch nodded sympathetically. He rose from his chair and motioned for Carol to do the same. "It's alright Miss DaRonch. We really appreciate your help. I think you can go now. If you want us to inform you when something comes up, we'll be glad to do so."

Carol only ended the conversation with a mumbled 'Thank you' and quickly left the interrogation room. In the end the tears were streaming down her face, even though she had tried hard to oppress them, but to no avail.

Spencer followed his supervisor's example and also rose from his seat. Together they left the interrogation room and met with their team colleagues outside on the floor. However, only JJ and Morgan stood there and waited for them. "Where are the others?" Hotch asked. He didn't remembered tasking them with something else.

JJ seemed prepared for the question and responded swiftly. "There came a call from another woman who also claimed to have some information about our guy."

"Seems to be quite the ladies man, huh?" Morgan joked in between.

"Prentiss and Rossi answered the call."

Morgan apparently managed to regain his seriousness in the meantime and turned to Hotch. "Is she a reliable source?"

"I don't think she was lying. She seemed very sincere." Spencer concluded, remembering her watery eyes.

"Yes, I agree with-"

"Aaron! We were called away by some of the police officers. A woman named Elizabeth Kloepfer called the police station and claimed she knew the guy who has been killing some of the girls around this area. Unfortunately she lives far away in Washington state but she wants to come down here as soon as possible." Rossi interrupted Hotch even though the team chief didn't even seem to mind. A new piece of information was always welcome, no matter when it came.

Rossi and Emily almost jogged to the rest of their team with the older agent holding some papers, that seemed to be the scripted recordings of the phone call with Elizabeth Kloepfer. Once he reached Hotch Rossi handed him over the papers while straightening his jacket absentmindedly.

"Apparently some media reports about the murders already made it out to Washington and the neighboring states and she firmly believes the culprit to be one of her ex-boyfriends named uh, Bundy. Theodore Robert Bundy." Emily started to explain while Hotchner skimmed through the pages in his hands with both Morgan and Spencer reading over his shoulders. "Kloepfer told us that Bundy was a law student back when he lived in Washington. Apparently he was quite jealous even possessive. At some point she got so scared off him and broke up. And guess what her hair looks like." Emily asked rhetorically with a slight triumphing smile.

"Long, brown hair. Parted in the middle." Morgan described as Rossi held up a picture of a curly brown headed young man who had his arm thrown over a girl on his right, with Morgan's exact description.

At the same time Carol DaRonch chose this moment to be escorted outside of the police station with an officer accompanying her. She saw the group of FBI agents and in the corner of her eye also the small picture of a seemingly familiar face. "That's him! That's-THAT'S HIM!"

The young woman left the police officer's side and went over to the BAU team while still frantically yelling and pointing at the picture in front of her. The agents looked on as Carol's body shook with excitement and fear. JJ was the first to regain her composure and react to Carol's sudden outburst.

"That's him? The man who tried to kidnap you?"

"YES! I tell you that's HIM! Officer Roseland. THAT'S HIM!"

"Are you definitely sure of that?" Emily asked again to clarify the situation, but Carol barley noticed her.

"What do you say, Hotch, do we declare him our number one suspect?" Morgan asked the team chief after they stepped away a few feet to talk privately to each other.

Hotchner nodded, at first hesitantly then with more determination, while still flipping through the scripted recordings of the phone call with Elizabeth Kloepfer. "They all matched optically. Even the way they described our suspect fits in some degrees.

We've already classified him as a necrophilia. Mostly because he wants to demonstrate his powers. It would also fit as to why he wanted to handcuff DaRonch." Hotch started creating the profile for their current case.

"And just look at Kloepfer, DaRonch, Cunningham. Even all the other victims. The hairstyle definitely plays a major role for him. Either he's just attracted to this very type or he had a incident with someone who looked like this. Whenever he now meets an attractive woman with this hairstyle she reminds him of that certain someone and he takes his anger out on her. He isn't gentle either, neither while his victims are alive nor when their dead." Rossi added as he joined his colleagues discussing their profile.

"As a law students he must have some smarts to him. That added with some good looks and not only does he appeal charming towards his victims, but also does he stay hidden and low-profile. One wouldn't think of a handsome, obedient law-student to rape and murder multiple girls. He's smart, he knows that and he uses it." Morgan concluded.

Hotch seemed to debate with himself. It all made sense, but publishing a profile to early could ruin a whole case. And they couldn't afford to create a mass panic. How would the public population react when they announced there was a serial killer particular hunting down brown headed girls with slightly parted hair? The wig shops would probably make a fortune.

"If he is as smart as we think he is, he has probably fled the state by now. Especially since his last victim managed to escape. That would mean we have no idea where he currently is and he could attack anyplace and at any given time. Then we'd have to wait again until he kills enough people to locate him." Hotch explained while holding his chin in his hand. "Dave? We should publish our profile now, shouldn't we?"

Rossi studied his colleague and friend for a moment before nodding his head in approval. "Let's hunt Ted Bundy."


End file.
